The new film “The Social Reckoning” doesn’t play like a sequel to the acclaimed David Fincher-directed, Aaron Sorkin-penned 2010 movie “The Social Network,” a dramatization of Mark Zuckerberg’s creation of Facebook.

Called a “companion piece” to the first film, the new one — in theaters this week — is not, for lack of a better phrase, “The Further Mis-Adventures of Mark Zuckerberg.” Thus, it shouldn’t truly matter that the tech icon is now being portrayed by Academy Award-nominated actor Jeremy Strong, not Jesse Eisenberg, who is front and center as Zuckerberg in “The Social Network.”

And yet we can see why Sorkin — who earned an Oscar for his screenplay for the first film and is both the writer and director of the second — gave Eisenberg the hard sell to reprise the role. It would have been fascinating to watch Eisenberg play a similarly older “Zuck,” now a husband and father and the head of a tech behemoth, even as the character is disappointingly thinly drawn in this film and, for all intents and purposes, is a background player.

That aside, “The Social Reckoning” is a borderline-enthralling account of the work of tech journalist Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White) and would-be whistleblower Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison) to expose the dangers of Facebook’s seemingly problematic algorithm — work that led to the former’s series of stories in the Wall Street Journal known as “The Facebook Files.”

Jeff has been covering politics in Washington, D.C., for the Journal when he arrives at the renowned publication’s San Francisco office to begin covering Facebook. The bureau chief, Christina (an enjoyable Betty Gilpin of “GLOW”), doesn’t see how he can work as a tech reporter — Jeff couldn’t figure out how to use his rental car’s GPS to find the WSJ satellite — but he promises to learn what he must to do what he sees as crucial investigative reporting.

That this reporter is in town and on the Facebook beat is a talking point at the social media company’s meeting of its Civic Integrity team, led by the cocky Teddy (Billy Magnussen, “Game Night”) and home to Frances. Concerns about the algorithm have spurred her to research what she’s come to see as a disturbing trend, but her attempts to bring this to anyone’s attention are short-lived.

As Jeff, with the help of two overworked interns, is in the process of reaching out to everyone in Civic Integrity, Frances bites, sending him a secure message. She’s terrified of losing her job, but she meets with him, intending only to point him in the right direction, not divulge company secrets or provide him with confidential documents, both of which would get her fired — or worse.

However, as he hits a series of brick walls, she reluctantly helps him more and more, even as she very much wants to continue working at Facebook.

In a parallel story, a team of Facebook employees and consultants works to prepare Mark to testify before a U.S. Senate committee, during which the controversial Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act — which gives platforms such as Facebook broad legal protection when its users post something problematic or even downright dangerous — will be a major topic.

This is no easy task — Strong (“Succession,” “The Apprentice”) and Sorkin (“The West Wing,” “The Trial of the Chicago 7”) paint Mark as somewhere between incredibly smug and disturbingly robotic as he attempts to play his role in the mock proceedings. Heck, these folks can’t even settle a necktie that sends the right message.

This endeavor devolves into an argument between Mark and Charlie Garrigan (Bill Burr), a one-time close colleague and former Facebook investor who has become critical of the platform, infuriating Zuck. (Comedian-actor Burr leans into his strengths as the composite character, who really gives it to the Facebook boss.)

Sorkin further fudges the facts a little by setting this prep session on Jan. 6, 2021, which is well after the real Zuckerberg testified before the Senate Commerce Committee and then the Senate Judiciary Committee. That said, his nonlinear storytelling here — he moves the story back and forth between 2019 and 2021, allowing him to fold in the novel coronavirus pandemic and the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol — is highly effective. Of course, many observers believe Facebook allowed the flow of much disinformation connected to both monumental events to gush like a river, with the film’s version of Mark, at least, claiming to be a “free-speech absolutist” and that Facebook shouldn’t be required to fact-check everything its users post. (He knows not everyone will love his choices, as evidenced by his office being complete with a bulletproof couch, behind which he can cower in the event of an attack.)

We probably need to feel only so badly for the real-life Zuckerberg, who has profited immensely from his Facebook-steering choices, but he’s not exactly given the fairest of shakes here.

As a result, “The Social Reckoning” is more compelling when White (“The Bear,” “Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere”) and Madison (an Oscar winner for “Anora”) share the screen. These scenes are informative while also accessible, Sorkin getting much mileage from Frances’ continued annoyance over having to explain so much to the “tech reporter-ish” Jeff, who serves as the audience’s surrogate here as he strives to soak up even basic digital concepts.

On the other hand, Sorkin misses a few times in their scenes, with what feels like at least two too many times in which Frances insists to Jeff that she loves her job and believes in Facebook’s original mission, wanting merely to cure it of its illness. (Plus, she’s entirely confused by a moment in a basketball game in which a player is so happy that he pumps his fist — a display of a kind of happiness she says she’s never felt. OK, maybe she’s not a sports fan, but this rings very false.)

A movie largely interested in the kind of “ragebait” that will drive engagement on a platform such as Facebook, “The Social Reckoning” has the juice to anger up the blood a bit and falls somewhere between being worthy of a like and a reshare.

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‘THE SOCIAL RECKONING’

3 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: R (for language)

Running time: 1:52

How to watch: In theaters Oct. 9

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